Chloe Wu’s “China-France-China” trip

A Vatel 2008 alumnus, Chloe Wu is currently the Sales and Marketing Director for Merrill Gardens major in senior living industry.

After her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management in Shanghai, Chloe Wu decided to come to France to study at Vatel, where she graduated with her Master’s Degreefrom Nimes in 2008. Then she went back to China where she was the Special Events Manager in the Grand Mercure Hongqiao Shanghai Hotel, before joining the Sales and Marketing team at the Lan Hai International Golf Club. Now she’ll tell us about her current job:Sales and Marketing Directorfor Merrill Gardensmajor in senior living industry.

How were you hired for this job and what do you do?

A headhunter recruited me.I started working at Merill Gardens, an American company, in May 2014 as the Corporate Sales and Marketing Director. This is a booming sector in China.I’m in charge of many different projects according to data the Sales team gives me.This is currently being launched in China.I work a lot on brand identity strategies, visual creations and growing our reputation.My goal is to have my company be the Chinese benchmark.

What advice would you like to give to Vatel students who would also like to work in Sales and Marketing?

I’d tell them to never lose an opportunity to learn something, to change their work environment and to work with different people so as to continue progressing from a personal point of view.Also to keep smiling. That is a key quality in our jobs, and last of all, to always give a helping hand to their colleagues, who won’t forget that, when they themselves, need one.

Can you tell us how you built your professional project?

I was born in China.I came to France to study at Vatel with the goal of going back to China for my career, because of all the opportunities that exist in my country.And you do have many of them when you speak several languages and have a French hotel management degree, which the Chinese hospitality industry really appreciates.As a Vatel graduate, I not only have solid theoretical knowledge, but I also was able to validate this with “in situ” professional applications at the Vatel Hotel & Spa**** as well as when I did my internship at the Saint Tropez Palace Le Byblos.

How did you find out about Vatel and what memories do you have of the time you spent there?

As French was my second foreign language, I looked into the Alliance Francaise in China when I wanted to continue studying after I had my Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from the Shanghai University.I learned that Vatel had an excellent reputation in the Chinese hospitality industry and that its alumni had very good jobs.I’ve got great memories from my Vatel years.Faculty members were all very nice and always professional and practical application courses made us get our heads out of our books and be directly on the front line.And that’s how we learned how to solve problems ourselves or in a team.Each of my classmates, from all over the world, helped me become more mature and gain self-confidence.